{"id":24505,"date":"2012-07-26T00:37:45","date_gmt":"2012-07-26T00:37:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mixedracestudies.org\/wordpress\/?p=24505"},"modified":"2012-07-26T00:37:45","modified_gmt":"2012-07-26T00:37:45","slug":"novel-focuses-on-region%e2%80%99s-multi-ethnic-heritage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/?p=24505","title":{"rendered":"Novel focuses on region\u2019s multi-ethnic heritage"},"content":{"rendered":"

Novel focuses on region\u2019s multi-ethnic heritage<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Coalfield Progress Post<\/a>
\nNorton, Virginia
\n2012-07-06<\/p>\n

Katie Dunn<\/a><\/strong>, Staff Reporter<\/p>\n

BIG STONE GAP<\/a> \u2014 America is often described as a melting pot, a nation where different ethnicities and cultures have assimilated into a cohesive union.<\/p>\n

In her recently published novel, Washed in the Blood<\/a><\/em>, author Lisa Alther<\/a>, a Kingsport, Tenn.<\/a> native, focuses on this notion by exploring the early history of the southern Appalachians<\/a> and chronicling the story of several generations of a multi-ethnic family who lived in the region.<\/p>\n

The book begins with the arrival of Diego Martin, a hog drover who came to the region with a Spanish exploring party in the 16th century. Martin is abandoned by the expedition’s leader in the wilderness, but is rescued by “friendly natives.” Alther’s book chronicles Martin’s descendants through the early 20th century as they struggle to survive and gain acceptance in a racially charged era.<\/p>\n

Alther discussed this and another of her recently published books during the Melungeon Heritage Association’s<\/a> gathering last weekend.<\/p>\n

She told those gathered that she had researched the novel for 10 years, beginning in 1996; the book was published last fall.<\/p>\n

The novel focuses on the racial mixing that occurred in the region, though Alther said she abstained from using the term “Melungeon<\/a>,” noting that through her research she has concluded that there is no such thing as the “Melungeon Story.” Each family whose ancestors made their way inland from the coast to the mountains has stories of the different ethnicities that were absorbed along the way, she said.<\/p>\n

Read the entire article here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Novel focuses on region\u2019s multi-ethnic heritage The Coalfield Progress Post Norton, Virginia 2012-07-06 Katie Dunn, Staff Reporter BIG STONE GAP \u2014 America is often described as a melting pot, a nation where different ethnicities and cultures have assimilated into a cohesive union. In her recently published novel, Washed in the Blood, author Lisa Alther, a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,459,8,5113,20],"tags":[11403,11404,6797],"class_list":["post-24505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","category-history","category-media-archive","category-triracial","category-usa","tag-coalfield-progress-post","tag-katie-dunn","tag-lisa-alther"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24505\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}